The present paper introduces the Shahugat inscription which was recently discovered near Tabaktal village in Chahan district near Nikshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. This inscription refers to some events which occurred in the early eighth century on the southern coasts of Iran and can be matched with certain icidents which have been recorded in historical sources. The conflicts among the rulers of the southern rregions and islands of Iran, such as Shiraz, Hormoz, Kish, and Qeshm, in order to gain control of the roads and commercial benefits not only in the Persian Gulf and Makran Sea regions but also on the coasts of India were one of the reasons for some people seeking shelter in the highlands of Makran and engraving this inscription.

3.

Barjasteh Delforooz, Behrooz

et al.

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Languages, Department of Linguistics and Philology.

The importance of inscriptions as the primary sources refer to historical events is undeniable. Introducing the Shāhugat inscriptions were found near Tābaktal village of Chāhān district around Nikshahr is the purpose of present paper. They refer to the events that occurred in south Iran around the end of the 7th and the beginning of the 8th centuries AH., a colorful and turbulent period of its history, some of which can be easily adapted to the historical sources. The invasion of Chagatai Mongols to Shiraz and Hormuz, the conflicts between the rulers of districts and southern islands such as Shiraz, Hormuz, kish and Qeshm to hold the roads and commercial interests are among the reasons that made some of the people to refuge the highlands of Makrān and subsequently led to these inscriptions.

4.

Dahlén, Ashk

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Languages, Department of Linguistics and Philology.

This study provides a critical edition of chapters nine and ten of Muḥīṭ al-tavārīkh (The Sea of Chronicles) by Muḥammad Amīn b. Mīrzā Muḥammad Zamān Bukhārī (Ṣūfīyānī). Muḥīṭ al-tavārīkh is a valuable source for the study of late seventeenth-century Central Asian history, historiography, and language. The present work represents the first critical edition of a primary source of Subḥān Qulī Khān’s reign. The ninth chapter (bāb) offers accounts of the Timurid kings, Abulkhayrid/Shaybanid and the first four Ashtarkhanid/Janid khans. The tenth chapter presents a detailed account of the life and times of “the last great” Ashtarkhanid/Janid khan, Subḥān Qulī Bahādur (1682–1702), revealing historical information essential for scholars of the period and region

9.

Fallahzadeh, Mehrdad

et al.

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Languages, Department of Linguistics and Philology.

Hassanabadi, Mahmoud

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Languages, Department of Linguistics and Philology.

This study is an attempt to provide a critical edition and English translation of an Indo-Persian treatise entitled Shams al-aṣvāt,a Persian translation-cum-commentary on the monumental medieval Sanskrit musicological work Saṅgītaratnākara of Śārṅgadeva. Shams al-aṣvāt was written in 1698 by Ras Baras, the son of Khushḥāl Khān Kalāvant. The critical edition is followed by an English translation of the edited text.

The treatise represents the Subcontinent stream of Persian post-scholastic writings on music theory which began in the 16th century and lasted to the middle of the 19th century when Persian lost its status as the literary language of the subcontinent and was replaced by English.

In the introduction to the critical edition, the editors try to trace the treatise back to the original Sanskrit work and prove that Shams al-aṣvāt is a translation-cum-commentary on Saṅgītaratnākara.

The most important conclusions drawn in the present study are that Persian translations of Sanskrit music theoretical works were not merely translations but also “harmonizations”, according to the current practice of their time. Furthermore, the present study shows that in order to reconstruct the archetype/autograph regarding musical terms, despite the risk of confusing and mixing newer terms and descriptions with the older ones, an eclectic approach is the most successful and fruitful. Using primary and parallel sources reduces the risk considerably.

On the threshold of the Constitutional Revolution of 1906-11in Iran, the need for a reform of Persian script began to be discussed seriously and intensively, and as one of the essential steps towards modernization. This paper investigate the ideas of Iranian intellectuals of that period on the issue of script reform in Iran.

14.

Hashabeiky, Forogh

et al.

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Languages, Department of Linguistics and Philology.

Fallahzadeh, Mehrdad

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Languages, Department of Linguistics and Philology.

This study provides a critical edition of chapters nine and ten of Muḥīṭ al-tavārīkh (The Sea of Chronicles) by Muḥammad Amīn b. Mīrzā Muḥammad Zamān Bukhārī (Ṣūfīyānī). Muḥīṭ al-tavārīkh is a valuable source for the study of late seventeenth-century Central Asian history, historiography, and language. The present work represents the first critical edition of a primary source of Subḥān Qulī Khān’s reign. The ninth chapter (bāb) offers accounts of the Timurid kings, Abulkhayrid/Shaybanid and the first four Ashtarkhanid/Janid khans. The tenth chapter presents a detailed account of the life and times of “the last great” Ashtarkhanid/Janid khan, Subḥān Qulī Bahādur (1682–1702), revealing historical information essential for scholars of the period and region.

15.

Kargar, Dariush

Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Languages, Department of Linguistics and Philology.

This book contains a text on wine from the 17th century AD written by Imam Qāẓi ebn Kāshef al-Din Moḥammad during the reign of Shah ῾Abbās I of the Safavid dynasty (1587–1628). It is important not only because of the information it provides on wine, medical knowledge, and herbs and medicines, but also for its social and folkloric contents. It shows that if an imam wished to do so, he could allow his followers to drink wine, even for pleasure. However, at the outset the author feels obliged to take great care even when prescribing wine to the members of the clergy or sick people. As the work progresses he is able to strengthen his arguments for the benefits of wine, which makes him able even to speak about the manners of drinking wine towards the end of the work.

Two manuscripts of the text are known to the editor. The older manuscript was perhaps written in Esfahan during the first half of the 11th century AH/17th century AD. It is a very fine and ornamented book, with the pages decorated with gold and šangarf (cinnabar, vermilion) written in Naskh inside ornamented frames. Even between the lines there are decorations. As works on science and religion were written in this style in those days, it is obvious that the book was regarded as a religious-scientific work, rather than a literary work, which would usually have been written in Nasta῾liq style. This manuscript is incomplete and lacks some parts, including the colophon.

The second manuscript belongs to the British Museum (Rieu, Vol. 2, p. 844, Add. 19619). The style of the decoration and the handwriting shows that this manuscript was probably written in Shiraz. It is an ordinary manuscript with simple decorated tables but no decorations between the lines, and it is written in a very ordinary and popular Nasta῾liq of the late 17th century AD. This shows that in Shiraz the book was regarded as a literary piece. Moreover as this manuscript is an ordinary copy, it is written in the style in which all manuscripts of this kind were written. This manuscript is more complete.

For several reasons, though, the first manuscript was taken as the original. The most important are that it is older and also preserves more features of the author’s dialect, but the script and paper are also older.